Hollywood, FL Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

Hollywood's Code of Ordinances treats tattoo parlors and body piercing shops as adult businesses alongside tanning establishments under Article VI, Section 11.101. Section 11.102.A allows no person to operate a tattoo, body art, or body piercing establishment except in a district zoned IM-1, the city's light industrial district; the Zoning and Land Development Regulations permit these uses nowhere else in the city. Section 11.102.B layers on distance buffers, measured under Section 11.103 as a straight line between the closest property lines: a shop must sit at least 1,000 feet from any area zoned for residential use and 500 feet from a pre-existing religious institution. Section 11.102.C forecloses relief from any of these distances, since the code grants no variance of the requirements for any reason.

Licensing runs through Section 11.104. Every adult business, tattoo shops included, must first obtain a local business tax receipt under Chapter 110 of the city code. Tattoo establishments specifically must comply with Florida Statute Section 877.04 and hand the city the name of each person performing tattooing along with a copy of that person's license to practice medicine or dentistry, plus the names of any staff tattooing under that licensee's supervision. A shop lawfully operating before Ordinance O-99-04 took effect on January 6, 1999 keeps its nonconforming status under Section 11.105 and is not forced to relocate, though it stays subject to the zoning code's nonconforming-use rules. Enforcement of the whole chapter runs through Section 10.7 of the Zoning and Land Development Regulations, per Section 11.107.